A group of pro-ethanol Senators like Grassley of Iowa and Minnesota’s Klobuchar and Franklin is trying to forestall a total end to ethanol subsidies with a gradual approach. I suggest sooner is better than later to end the $6 billion ethanol subsidy.
The reason a number of small ethanol producers and two of the largest(Verasun and Pacific Ethanol) are bankrupt is simple. Production of ethanol from corn doesn’t make economic sense. The business only survives with those large taxpayer subsidies.
With corn currently at $7.60/bushel, it takes about $3.00 worth of raw corn to make a gallon of ethanol. Yesterday’s wholesale CBOT price for a finished gallon of ethanol was just $2.70, making it clear why ethanol needs all those subsidies.
Our folly here is in attempting to replicate nature by trying to do what nature does best. Oil comes from the gradual cooking of biomass(ocean algae) into hydrocarbon fuel. A University of Utah study showed that nature needed one hundred tons of algae to make one gallon of oil. But nature had millions of years worth of prolific algae to produce those trillions of barrels of oil beneath the ocean bottom. So trying to use just this year’s corn crop to make a sufficient quantity of an oil substitute doesn’t work. In one year world hydrocarbon usage equals about 400 years of carbon sequestered from total world biomass growth. The Laws of chemistry and nature are difficult to repeal.
Rolf Westgard
Deerwood
Living in moral slavery
Tuesday’s Open Forum writes: “Millions have given their lives to keep this country safe. Why? It’s called freedom! Have their sacrifices been for naught?”
Yes it’s called freedom, freedom to worship or not, freedom to watch what you wish on TV, freedom to marry or not to marry, freedom to be a moral person or not. God gave us free will; it is up to each of us to decide to be moral, honest, respect human life and how to treat our fellow man. The writer goes on to list the terrible moral decay that is destroying our country, the destruction of marriage, cursing, nudity, blatant sex, gory violence and poor education. Christians are being thrown to the lions for daring to disagree. If only we would do what the writer is hinting at, pass plenty of good moral laws, marriage only as described, laws against cursing, no nudity laws, no information about sex, only TV shows like Andy Griffith ... Christians rise up and enforce your morality in law, why you will create utopia here. Lucky for us this hasn’t all happened yet. Morality enforced though law will turn us into a country of moral slaves, yes slaves. It will take our free will from us as surely as any dictator. Do we take the path of man, using our free will to choose how each of us lives, what we believe in, of our own choice on what is moral; or should we use the force of law to decide what is moral, what we watch on TV, what we are allowed to say. Morality comes from the inside, not imposed by law. If these things come to pass, we will have given up our free will, and yes our freedom and will live in moral slavery!
Steve Lanz
Nisswa
State spending isn’t being cut
Who isn’t compromising on the Minnesota state budget?
The 2011 regular legislative session has ended in the Minnesota Legislature without passing a budget for the next biennium. Gov. Dayton and the rest of the Democrats are blaming the Republican majority and accusing them of not compromising. Minority leader Bakk went so far as to call the GOP a cult for sticking to their principles. Let’s get away from the typical emotion-based rhetoric consistently employed by the DFL and look at the facts.
The original budget proposed by the Republican majority in the Legislature was to keep spending at the current level of $32 billion dollars. When they found out anticipated revenues were $34 billion, they very generously compromised by increasing the budget $2 billion to match the anticipated revenues. They assumed it would be acceptable to any fair-minded Minnesotan to increase spending to that level and still stick to their promise to make sure the state lived within its means.
Let me repeat this so it’s clear to everyone. The Republican budget proposal does not cut any spending. It increases spending to the highest level ever for the state of Minnesota. The Democrats are not satisfied with that. They want to increase state spending even more and increase taxes too. For all of you who are struggling to pay your bills but still live within your means, the DFL thinks your principles are extreme and irrational.
Gov. Dayton is willing to shut down the state government and try to blame it on the GOP in order to get his way. What he is doing is childish and irresponsible. Don’t be fooled by the misinformation and scare tactics the DFL are so fond of using. Urge your state representatives to stick to their promise of a fair and responsible state government.
Jan Schultz
Cass County Republican BPOU Chair
Remer
Proliferation of laws
Like a plague of hungry locusts, the legislative bodies throughout the United States are passing new laws that chew away our freedoms and make puppets out of us. On a daily basis, the cities, townships, counties, states, and The Federal Government pass laws, each of which directs us to do something or prohibits us from doing something. Most of the laws are “enabling legislation” that require some government agency to make rules to explain what the law requires. If you look at the “Federal Register” there are literally dozens of new rules promulgated each day, and that is only at the Federal level! We are no longer the “land of the free”, we are the “land of the over-regulated”!
Help! Help! What is desperately needed is that every law be given a set number of years that it is in effect — then have it go out of existence — unless it is passed again. This would keep our legislators busy, and would eventually tend to reduce the number of laws.
Chuck Hagberg
Crosby
Obama motivated by evil
I, too, think that it is vitally important for the Brainerd Dispatch to publish the votes of area legislators and congressmen.
It’s not the way to stop underage drinking to let the underage drinkers, and their parents, off the hook by blaming someone else. It’s not the host, at a party, that has a responsibility to prevent underage drinking. It is the child and his, or her, parents who should be held responsible. Not just for the drinking, but for any “accidents” that the drinking leads to. It’s not the city’s job to be a babysitter, morality police or a scapegoat finder for irresponsible parenting.
If the state of Minnesota can’t balance its books, where did the Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development “Corporation” get the $88,000 to grant? How much economic development would there have been if the money had been left in the hands of taxpayers?
Minnesota Republican legislators should hold fast in their opposition to tax increases. Revenue enhancements, that are only meant to last two years, have a tendency to stay in effect much longer. The sooner we lower tax rates, the sooner we’ll have an inflow of companies, jobs and tax revenue.
Obama is calling for ending oil company tax breaks. Even though he’s motivated by evil, he’s right. It’s evil to intentionally destroy a whole industry that is improving our lives. It’s evil to deprive us of a critical resource. His evil plan is to force us to, eventually, ask Obama Almighty to take over the oil companies, and ration oil. Obama is right because the government should not be giving tax breaks to some industries, and not to all. The removal of tax breaks should be accompanied be reductions in drilling restrictions, and regulations, on oil companies. So oil companies can “Drill, Baby, Drill!”
Bill Maxfield
Aitkin
Boy Scouts are a blessing
My name is Molly Costin and I work at the Wadena Soil and Water Conservation District in Wadena, Minn. Last June 17, our town was hit by an F4 tornado which damaged over 400 buildings within city limits, and caused severe damage in the countryside. Since then our community has been rebuilding and replacing, trying to move on with our lives and heal the wounds created by that storm. We’ve seen many wonderful people come into our community and help us. They’ve helped clean up debris, distributed food and water, and helped in any way that they can. It still moves me whenever we see an act of kindness such as when your local Boy Scout group showed up the weekend of April 30th, 2011. That day we replanted trees in the city of Wadena that were lost in the storm. Approximately 175 scouts and leaders come to help us! People that were not necessarily affected themselves by this storm, came to help our community when we needed them. For that, I would like to thank the Boy Scouts on behalf of the community I live in for the generosity, kindness, and enthusiasm (despite the weather!) you showed us by helping out that weekend! You’re such a blessing! The troops that attended were Pillager, Pine River/Backus, St. Cloud, Zimmerman, Foley, Staples, Upsala, Little Falls, Brainerd, Wadena, Verndale, Rice, Bertha, Park Rapids, Big Lake, and Sartell. Thank you so much for all you do to help instill a sense of community in our youth, and for the hard work you put in that weekend in Wadena! You should be very proud of yourselves, I know we are!
Molly Costin
Wadena
Here comes ObamaCare
Congress will not allow any COLA (cost of living adjustment) in Social Security benefits. Yet ObamaCare will cost you more than ever.
Medicare insurance premiums for 2009 were $96.40, $104.20 in 2012, $120.20 in 2013, and a whopping $247.00 in 2014. That’s a 257 percent increase in five years. Boy, this socialism medicine is sure wonderful.
Oh, and while the seniors are paying more each year, Congress voted themselves a $3,000 per month increase.
Art Becker
Pillager
Comments (33)
Add commentYes let's end corn ethanol
Yes let's end corn ethanol subsidies right AFTER we end unneeded oil subsidies and tax breaks.
New senator
My typo turned Franken into Franklin.
Tax breaks
Once again, those tax breaks are from Section 199 of the tax code which apply to all manufacturing and related businesses, and allow reduced taxes on profits. Oil and gas companies make profits so they benefit. Democrats in Congress are trying to remove the benefit for 5 large oil companies, while leaving it for all others.
Things like ethanol and wind are money losers so they don't benefit from Sec 199. Instead they need direct cash handouts or mandated usage.
After many decades of
After many decades of profitable business and the current sky high profits I don't see how anyone can justify tax breaks for the oil industry. Why can't they stand on their own merits?
"those tax breaks are from
"those tax breaks are from Section 199 of the tax code which apply to all manufacturing and related businesses"
Rolf is right. Is it fair to take it away from just those you are unhappy with now? Read the code and decide if it should be eliminated entirely. Once you understand it, I believe you will feel differently.
Oil is traded in dollars. The more you print and the less confidence people have in it, the less it's worth. It's very easy to see why prices are so high. Get used to it. I don't believe we will ever see the $1.81 a gallon it was when Obama took office, ever again.
As Wolf says:
Cheap oil is probably gone for good. Next to water, oil is the most precious liquid we have. In addition to transportation, hundreds of products, from plastics, to medicine, to fertilizers, building materials, etc, are made from petroleum.
And Fish, the oil business, in contrast to wind, solar, and ethanol, can stand on its own. Section 199 was intended for a wide range of businesses to encourage growth and hiring. There are a lot of good paying unsubsidized jobs in the fossil fuel industry. It needs to be regulated but not trashed.
People who struggle with bills are not extreme in DFL eyes
Ms Schultz, it is not the people who "are struggling to pay bills" who will be taxed by DFL proposals. Those people will see more jobs as revenues from the rich get put to work in needed infrastructure programs.
If you thought corn ethanol was over hyped
Check out the story about solar subsidies in today's Star Trib.
The story points out "regulators found that solar customers...could get back more than 100 percent of a project's cost." The story notes that home solar costs about $40,000 before all those payments from taxpayers and Xcel energy customers. This means that wealthy home owners who can afford the upfront cost to decorate their roof, get the money back over time from low and middle income electric users. Now that's income redistribution to warm the heart.
Also note that in 2010, solar energy provided one thirtieth of one percent of U.S. electric power. Perhaps if we wait long enough, tectonic plates will shift and move us a little closer to the equator.
O I just love the greed of
O I just love the greed of the big oil co,and the biggeted trash that indorse them.
If the oil co. are not
If the oil co. are not afraid,why are they worried so much about ethanol,turbines,and solar,and always trying to beat them down. Because they can read the writting on the wall.Rolf you are beating a soon to be dead horse to death. In less than 20years oil will no longer used as a moter fuel.
The future according to jackpo
Walking and riding horses will probably be good for us.
And your point is?
"Also note that in 2010, solar energy provided one thirtieth of one percent of U.S. electric power. "
At one time oil provided LESS than one thirtieth of one percent of U.S. energy.
What was the energy source
What was the energy source then, Fish? And when?
The future of oil
Oil is a finite resource, but there is still a lot of it around. We have used about a trillion barrels since Drake's well in Pennsylvania, but there are still a few trillion barrels left if we include a lot of low grade deposits which are economic as the price rises. Then there is natural gas and nuclear. With thorium and breeder reactors, nuclear is good for many centuries.
Fish, I was serious. I don't
Fish,
I was serious. I don't really feel like using a wood burning stove, and lighting my house using whale oil.
It doesn't matter how much
It doesn't matter how much oil is available. It is destroying our climate and possibly our food supply. That cost is unsustainable.
The Drill Baby Drill mantra shows that there are no true conservatives left in the GOP. A true conservative would support energy conservation and efficiency. Conservatives do not support rapid extraction and wasteful consumption of a resource that weakens our national security.
"A true conservative would
"A true conservative would support energy conservation and efficiency"
I do, Fish, and took advantage of most those nice liberal rebate/tax credit programs.
Thanks Richard. I stand
Thanks Richard. I stand corrected. Of course, I would only use "clean coal."
convention center roof
Then there's that Mpls Convention Center roof and its 2600 solar panels for a mere $3million+. To provide the erratic equivalent of Prairie Island nuclear's output, you would need 10,000 of those Convention Center installations.
To replace the world's oil energy, so hated by Fish and others, you would have to cover most of the earth's land surface with solar panels as a starter. It's all about scale. The energy in fossil fuels and the atom's nucleus is highly concentrated.
It would be nice if Fish
It would be nice if Fish could convert some of his grey matter into positive energy.
Rolf; Would you please list
Rolf; Would you please list the two major ethanol plants that whent bankrupt, and the thier names and towns were they are located.( you metioned in yourposts)
I have turned the internet upside down and i cant find them.
i live down here in the heartland,and it seems rather odd that locally Life line has a new million gallon plant that has been in produtction for a short time,and anew 40million gallon plant ,being built locally will go into prodution this fall.
I understand thier is no ehanol in storage,and it is shipped to the refiner as fast as it is produced.
I question why they they would invest in new plants ,when some are going broke.
Rolf, I invite you to come down and see for yourself what is going on, not what read in some newspaper.
wolf; dont ya wish ya had
wolf; dont ya wish ya had some grey matter.
I have dark matter, Jackpo.
I have dark matter, Jackpo. That's much better. I assume you have anti-matter.
bankrupt
Pacific Ethanol is publicly traded. The stock used to be about $25-$30. Now it's about 30 cents. The other one is Verasun.
Rolf is overlooking the huge
Rolf is overlooking the huge opportunity in energy conservation. We waste massive amounts of energy that wouldn't need to be produced nor the waste they create in production.
It's the low hanging fruit that we need to tap into before we run out of time and before we tap into the dirty tar sands of Canada.
No quarrel with conservation
Right on Fish. One problem is that the way you get active conservation is by high prices on the stuff you want to conserve. Europe didn't have much oil, so they taxed gasoline to raise its price. This forced more good public transport and small diesel cars which get high mileage. We stuck with cheaper gas and Hummers.
art art art
What are your sources for the Medicare premium information? The US Govt. does not even announce the rates until the year before. Next year if there is a cost of living increase, the Medicare premium will go up, too. That is what we know for sure.
Well that was easy to find.
"Q: Will the new health care law raise Medicare’s basic monthly premium to $ 247 in 2014, as a viral message claims?
A: No, Medicare officials project the basic premium will be less than half that. But the law will eventually cause 14 percent of seniors with incomes over $ 85,000 a year ($ 170,000 for couples) to pay higher “income-related” premiums, up from 5 percent currently."
Art, you are acting irresponsibly to print viral email information which is incorrect. Shame on you as a senior adding to the fear that is already out there.
art art art part 2
"A bill nixing Congress' automatic 2011 pay raise was signed into law on Friday by President Barack Obama.
The move marks the second consecutive year lawmakers have opted not to receive their automatic cost-of-living increase. The law governing congressional pay raises requires members to vote against getting a raise. Otherwise, the increase takes effect automatically."
There is no pay raise, no cola raise for congress for the
second year in a row.
Maybe a correction is in order, Art.